Towards P-block Catalysts: Making Chemical Bonds on a Budget

Abstract

The work in this thesis describes advancements made towards developing main group catalysts and designing new ligands. N-Heterocyclic imine (NHI) ligands were used to support novel boron, silicon and germanium complexes. The new boron compounds demonstrated the ability to dehydrogenate amine-boranes and instigate their dehydrocoupling. In one case, the catalytic dehydrogenation of amine-boranes was observed. Although the synthesized silicon and germanium compounds were structurally similar, they exhibited very different reactivity under reducing conditions. The former underwent a highly unusual ligand rearrangement, while the latter formed the desired two-coordinate acyclic germylene. In addition, new olefin-based ligands featuring mixed element donors were designed and their coordination chemistry with Lewis acids BH3 and AuCl revealed different binding sites. These findings led to the isolation of a bimetallic complex that employed both donors at the same time. Finally, the preliminary photoluminescent properties of copper and gold complexes supported by the new N-heterocyclic olefin-phosphine (NHOP) ligands will be discussed.